Figure Skating

More than 20 years later it's still the lasting memory for many Canadians from the Calgary Olympics: Elizabeth Manley's magical free style skate that vaulted her to a silver medal, the best-ever result for a female Canadian skater.

Manley - who now goes by Manley-Theobald - remembers none of it, however, and not because the busy 44-year-old hasn't stopped to think about it or is to busy looking forward to look back.

She really can't remember.

"I went into a zone," she says of the four-minute routine that won the hearts of the 22,000 in the Saddledome, not to mention the international judging panel who at that point had East German star Katarina Witt and American Debi Thomas ahead of the tiny Ottawa skater. "I have a memory of not remembering anything. When I look back at Calgary I hardly remember that night.

"I remember getting off the ice and looking and my coach and asking ‘Did I do everything?'."

She had, and then some.

She electrified the home crowd and jumped from third to second bumping aside Thomas with a buoyant smile and style that was both classical and athletic, skating to Irma La Douce and to Canadian Concerto.

If the moment was a blur the one memory she does carry with her isn't too shabby: By the time she finally left the arena and headed back to the athlete's village it was nearly 3 a.m., yet there were still thousands of revellers outside chanting her name.

It was the peak of her skating career and a reference point for a life that has dramatically gone through highs and lows. Manley-Theobald's willingness to talk about times, both good and bad, make her an Olympic hero with a particular relevance as her life and career comes full circle in advance of the 2010 Vancouver Games.

In the years after the Olympics she turned professional and skated in touring ice dancing shows before turning to coaching, first in Florida and then Philadelphia. She's now living in Ottawa coaching at the Gloucester Skating Club - on the Elizabeth Manley Rink, no less.

In some ways it's an odd juxtaposition, given that her tour through elite skating was hardly "peaches and cream" as she says. Raised by a single parent, her mother Joan, a federal government employee, went into debt to finance her daughter's ambitions. Before her Calgary moment she had briefly given up the sport after moving to Lake Placid to train as a 17-year-old and ending up depressed and overweight, her hair falling out because of her anxiety.

Winning her silver medal and becoming a Canadian icon didn't make everything go away. She published two autobiographies and took part in Happily Ever After: The Elizabeth Manley Story, an unflinching documentary that looked at some of the less savoury sides of elite skating and the demons Manley has battled with - depression, weight swings, drug rumours and financial troubles.

But battling through adversity only makes her better positioned to guide the next generation of skaters.

"I'm the perfect poster child that dreams come true. I'm like the Rocky of skating and I want to be vocal and talk about that it's not perfect; you are going to have hard days and you have to prevail through them," she says.

"There are so many athletes that give up too quick."

Coaching has helped her appreciate the depth of her own rare drive. "I remember my grandmother used to tell us about walking to school five miles in a snow storm and now that's me with my skaters," Manley-Theobald says. "I get frustrated sometimes because I see kids who think it comes easily and it doesn't. I know the commitment it takes and I'm telling them how I used to be on the ice eight hours a day and I can't get them to do two 45-minutes sessions. The tables have turned."

Her ability to persevere was tested in the past couple of years when she returned to Ottawa in part to nurse her mother through treatment for ovarian cancer. Her mother died last July. Manley-Theobald's struggles with her body image returned - she was nearly 35 pounds above her skating weight - and her coaching career was on hold as her life revolved around the hospital.

"I thought my battle to get to the Olympics was hard, but losing my Mom was harder," she says. "She was my best friend, she was everything to me and when she died I lost part of myself. It was tough. I didn't want to be seen in public; I was having a hard time feeling good about myself."

She was helped by her husband Brent Theobald, a former junior hockey player and financial adviser. They've celebrated their third wedding anniversary but plans for his 30th birthday party are still pending. "Marrying young keeps you young, absolutely," she says. "But I couldn't have got through this past year without him."

In life, as in skating, Manley has a knack for making the best out of hard times. She's a spokesperson for Herbal Magic weight loss and nutrition centres and credits the program for helping her get within a few pounds of her skating weight. In honour of her mother, she's the national spokesperson for Ovarian Cancer Canada and will be participating in the Winners Walk of Hope on Sept. 13.

After that, there's coaching and her Olympic broadcast work and then one more big Olympic moment, perhaps, as she and her husband are hoping to begin a family soon after the Games.

"I think I'm ready now," she says.

Elizabeth Manley

Born Aug. 7, 1965 in Trenton, Ont.

Residence Ottawa

Canadian championships 3 (1985, 1987, 1988)

World championship appearances 6 (best result: silver in 1988)

Olympic appearances 2 (finished 13th in 1984; won silver in 1988)